St. Louis school budget would result in hundreds of layoffs

ST. LOUIS -- More than 1,400 employees of St. Louis Public Schools would lose their jobs under a budget plan aimed at saving $64 million.

The plan would cut dozens of administrators, hundreds of clerks and teacher aides, and eliminate entire departments in favor of private vendors, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported Sunday in a copyright story.

The district, which is being run by a new management team, has been criticized as costly, inefficient and bloated with bureaucracy. Besides cuts in the work force, the plan would end a generous sick-leave policy and curtail spending on taxi fares for students.

No current classroom teacher would be let go, and the district is looking to fill 242 teaching positions. About 330 teaching spots will remain vacant. The school board will vote on the $340 million operating budget this week.

Under the plan, 1,463 employees would lose their jobs, 709 vacant positions would be eliminated and the number of bus routes would be reduced.

The proposal also would privatize warehouse, janitorial and maintenance services, change employee benefits and create an Internet-based textbook and supply distribution system.

"I think we nailed it. I think we have a good plan here. I think we are going to give the board what they want," Interim Superintendent William V. Roberti said. "This is not just about cutting costs. This is about changing the way this system conducts business and the way it operates."

Roberti is the corporate turnaround specialist whose New York firm, Alvarez & Marsal, holds a contract to run the St. Louis Public Schools for the next year. Besides his team of about 20 consultants, Roberti brought on a Chicago human resources firm and a local labor lawyer to help make the cuts.

The goal, Roberti said, was to close a $90 million cash shortfall expected over the next year with minimal effects on the classroom. What they found, he said, was that the St. Louis school system spends up to $5,000 more per pupil than similar school districts. But, because much of that money is used outside the classroom, the spending does not translate into better instruction, the budget report contends.

The school system spends $11,711 per student -- $4,600 of which does not directly pay for instruction, according to the budget report. Under last school year's budget, less than half of the employees on the district's payroll were teachers. In the proposed budget, 62 percent are teachers.

"We took as much care as we could take in the time we had to really focus on costs outside the classroom," Roberti said. "One of the centerpiece positions that we put in this proposal is that not one teacher is going to lose their job."

But many others employees will. Overall, the district would cut $43.5 million in salaries and benefits.

Even with all the reductions, the district is on a path to end the year $14.6 million in the red, which would place it on the state's financially stressed schools list.

The total operating budget, which does not include federal money or capital funds, would be $343.1 million, $55 million less than the district spent on operations last year.

Roberti, a former head of the Brooks Brothers clothing company, said he hopes to save even more by selling buildings -- including the district's $10.2 million downtown headquarters -- and by scrutinizing benefits, contracts and overtime costs.

"There is more to come," Roberti said. "But we believe this is a giant first step."

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On the Net:

St. Louis Public Schools: http://www.slps.org/